Follow Us

More

Star Wars 8 & Guardians 2 Are Fandango's Most Anticipated 2017 Movies

Ticket site Fandango has developed a tradition of polling thousands of its users and visitors annually, as a means of gauging what their most anticipated films are for the year that lies ahead. Unsurprisingly, Fandango's most anticipated film countdowns for 2015 and 2016 were topped by Star Wars movies - Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, respectively - followed closely by a variety superhero blockbusters (Marvel and DC alike) and other surefire box office bets, including the latest offerings from either Disney Animation or Disney/Pixar (especially sequels, like Finding Dory).

Making Fandango's top 10 most anticipated movies for a particular year doesn't guarantee commercial success of course, as evidenced by the fact that Zoolander 2 and Independence Day: Resurgence both made the cut in 2016 - yet they performed well below expectations at the box office, thanks in part to the two sequels' weak critical receptions (another wild card factor with Fandango's most anticipated film selections). Nevertheless, it seems safe to assume that the two space adventure franchise films that are sitting atop Fandango's most anticipated 2017 movies countdown should perform quite handsomely in terms of ticket sales, if nothing else.

According to a poll of some 2,000 visitors, Fandango users' most anticipated film of 2017 is Rian Johnson's Star Wars: Episode VIII, followed by James Gunn's cosmic Marvel sequel Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. The number three spot went to Disney's live-action musical re-imagining Beauty and the Beast, followed by the DC Extended Universe solo movie Wonder Woman and Marvel Cinematic Universe solo film Spider-Man: Homecoming in the #4 and #5 spots. It's also worth noting that the Fandango survey was conducted a week ahead of the 2016 winter holiday frame - and thus, prior to Episode VIII costar Carrie Fisher's death.

Meanwhile, sixth place on Fandango's countdown went to Zack Snyder's DCEU superhero team-up tentpole Justice League, followed by The Fate of the Furious (the eighth Fast & Furious movie overall) in seventh place, the Fifty Shades of Grey sequel Fifty Shades Darker in eighth place, the R-Rated Wolverine solo movie Logan (Hugh Jackman's final time playing the adamantium-clawed title character) in ninth place and Illumination Entertainment's animated sequel Despicable Me 3 in tenth place.

With four of Fandango's top 10 anticipated 2017 movies being films that are either from Disney or one of its affiliates (and noteworthy Disney-backed 2017 films such as the MCU sequel Thor: Ragnarok and Disney/Pixar's Coco not even making the cut), Exhibitor Relations senior box office analyst Jeff Bock is already predicting "total Disney domination" for the year, after the Mouse House's record-breaking run at the box office in 2016. Nevertheless, 2017 could prove to be a profitable year for Warner Bros. Pictures and Universal Studios too, based on the returns for their previous DCEU movies and most recent Fast & Furious films, respectively.

Elsewhere,Pitch Perfect 3 landed the title for Most Anticipated 2017 Comedy (with Baywatch in the #2 spot), with the title of Most Anticipated Horror/Thriller of 2017 going to Alien: Covenant (followed by Stephen King's IT in the #2 spot). Funnily enough, Dwayne Johnson stars in both The Fate of the Furious and Baywatch in 2017 - yet it's his leading role in the Jumanji reboot/sequel that landed him a spot on Fandango's Most Anticipated Actor of 2017 list.